WASHINGTON — A former Prince George’s County substitute teacher and elementary school basketball coach accused of uploading and sharing child pornography online has been indicted on multiple child pornography charges.
Now, authorities say they need the public’s help in identifying dozens of children whose images they say turned up on 34-year-old Christopher Speights’ digital devices.
Speights, a former basketball coach at Bradbury Heights Elementary in Capitol Heights, was indicted on three counts of possession of child pornography with the intent to distribute and six counts of possession of child pornography, the Prince George’s County State’s Attorney said Friday.
The state’s attorney’s office said Friday they would also charge Speights with having inappropriate physical contact with at least one child.
Prince George’s County State’s Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said authorities so far have identified dozens of potential victims and are currently in the process of identifying victims from outside the county and potentially outside the state.
Speights also coached a traveling basketball, the South County Steelers.
“The number is growing,” Alsobrooks told reporters Friday. “We can only say, at this point, dozens is an accurate way to say it.”
Alsobrooks urged parents whose children may have had contact with Speights to call 800-637-5437 to speak with investigators with the Maryland State Police. Alsobrooks said Speights was known to invite children to his home and went on overnight trips with members of the traveling basketball team.
Speights was arrested in April following an investigation by state police that was triggered after the free, online storage company Dropbox notified police that one of its users was potentially distributing child porn on the site.
Speights, who was also indicted by a federal grand jury in July on three federal child porn-related charges, remains held without bond at the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections. His trial on the state charges is set for Nov. 13.
Speights’ indictment comes several weeks after former Prince George’s County school aide Deonte Carraway was sentenced to 75 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to 15 federal child-pornography charges in a widespread sex abuse case that stunned the county school system. Carraway still faces 270 more state charges.
WTOP’s Megan Cloherty contributed to this report.
